CASE STUDY

CATEGORY: BUSINESS PLANNING

Approached by our client, a regional confectionery manufacturer, the owner required clarity over direction and opportunities for his business, and organisational development to achieve the goals defined.

The approach involved preparing a three year business plan, which detailed two routes to grow – an organic model, consolidating recent investment and optimising the use and return on assets, and a more aggressive model with further investment (external) which would open up new channels and promote new products.

Once the three year picture was known, this was distilled into a 12 month view (what can be done in next year) and then the initial three months, with detailed actions and responsibilities defined.

This planning work was supported by advice and guidance on:

• Developing a set of meaningful KPI’s for the business and defining accountability for delivery of performance.
• External investment and options for attracting further capital for the more aggressive option.
• Review of key operational skills, capabilities and a structure for the future in terms of staffing, skills and accountabilities.

CASE STUDY

 CATEGORY:   MANUFACTURING

Our client, an thermoplastic injection moulder, was about to relocate to new premises, and was seeking to improve manufacturing systems and performance.

After an initial review, a number of areas of change were identified and implemented over the following 10 months:

Planning and Performance

•  A production planning system was developed to enable performance to be measured, and the performance vs plan figures improved from 65% average to 85% within 6 months of introducing the measures and reviewing downtime reasons.
• The capacity across machines was able to be planned, based on actual data.
• The costing of products was revisited to ensure all work was operating at a decent margin.

Lean & Waste Reduction

•  A kitting process introduced to control material issue and enable warehouse and inventory management to be initiated.
• In line operation of secondary activities was instigated to minimise unnecessary handling.
• In line recycling of waste was introduced, which significantly reduced waste generation, storage and handling.

Standards

•  Simple performance boards introduced to provide hourly performance information at a glance.
• 5S introduced to organise and improve efficiency in work cells.

Additional support was provided on recruiting production management staff, training staff on 5S and lean, layout design for new plant and cost reduction.

CASE STUDY

 CATEGORY:   PROJECT MANAGEMENT

On the back of a successful first project, we were engaged by Snowshock Ltd to look at the feasibility and benefits of bringing production of their core product (slush concentrates) in house.

The study assessed capital equipment, infrastructure in the new warehouse unit being leased, ingredient sourcing, packaging, labour standards and other requirements. With around a £200k investment, the costing calculations revealed a payback period of around 12 months at full production.

Once confirmed by the study, we were asked to progress to a project management role, coordinating a range of activities relating to the production of the product:

• Production layout, equipment sourcing, specification of process line.
• Quality system to work towards BRC standards in due course.
• Recipe development and costings with suppliers, identification of suppliers for key ingredients.
• Timing and phasing of the project elements.
• Supply and installation overview.
• Production planning systems, including inventory management and forecasting – initially on Excel system.
• Recruitment of core production staff.
• Challenging and changing the interface with warehouse to reduce packaging waste.
• Sourcing of new suppliers for bottles , printed cups and other sundry items.

The project is due to go live October 2019, and is on target and under budget at time of writing.

CASE STUDY

 CATEGORY:   FOOD & DRINK CONTRACT MANUFACTURE

Engaged by a chilled drinks manufacturer, we were asked to identify a UK based contract manufacturer for a new “on the go” chilled coffee drink. From a process of researching and screening manufacturers for capability, we managed to eventually introduce the company to a private label drinks processor and packer who could work with them on developing and producing/packing a UHT coffee drink.

This was launched, and is progressing well in certain channels where a cost effective chilled coffee drink is appreciated. The quality of the product was excellent, and through collaboration, the target unit price was achieved.

CASE STUDY

 CATEGORY:   PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Requested by EasiYo in New Zealand, the initial brief was to identify, screen and recommend a UK based contract manufacturer to produce their powdered yoghurt product for supply throughout Europe.

Once phase 1 completed, we were then asked to manage the project, working on the following areas:

• Sourcing of critical raw materials in the EU to the tight specification needed.
• Working on layout, design and manning of the factory, including location in the existing plant, target manning levels, efficiency and throughput balancing.
• Identifying specific equipment suppliers for product handling.
• Contract manufacturing agreement.
• Recipe development with local ingredients.
• Quality and technical standards and systems.

The project was complex in terms of regular communication, with regular phone conference calls with all stakeholders across the EU and New Zealand.

Project delivered on time, and in budget, and was then followed with a period of time consolidating and improving production performance. Quality of product produced was excellent, and well received among customers and consumers in the major markets in Europe.

Benefits for the client were substantial – the saving on duty costs were re-invested in the project, and also into marketing and sales of the product.

CASE STUDY

 CATEGORY:   CONSULTANCY

Supported for a number of years, during which they have tripled the turnover, our client took advantage of our multi-faceted business support program, covering a range of areas. Through this we have assisted them in marketing, planning, organisational development and operations.

Through direct and affiliated support, the major aspects of work have been:

• Marketing – Restructured and developed a recognised brand for their services, which has enabled new business and ensured retention  of major clients in the leisure industry. The services keep public water systems clean and disinfected. This development was key in then securing another national client, with an annual turnover of around £500k per year.
• Organisational development – advice on structure of business, values, behaviours and mentoring of management team. Recommendations on changing of management team when needed.
• Operational improvements – latest project to look at visual systems for “at a glance” monitoring of asset and people utilisation and planning, so that movement of field engineers can be optimised.